U.S. patent application number 11/558906 was filed with the patent office on 2008-05-15 for methods and apparatus for applying success metrics and metadata commerce in search and knowledge systems.
Invention is credited to Mark M. Huck.
Application Number | 20080114728 11/558906 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 39370394 |
Filed Date | 2008-05-15 |
United States Patent
Application |
20080114728 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Huck; Mark M. |
May 15, 2008 |
METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR APPLYING SUCCESS METRICS AND METADATA
COMMERCE IN SEARCH AND KNOWLEDGE SYSTEMS
Abstract
For centuries written content has been subject to plagiarism,
diminishing the value of the content to owners. This problem has
been compounded by networked information spaces such as the
Internet where content can be published widely in a very short
period of time. The present invention solves one aspect of this
problem by showing an information commerce system reliant on the
value of content metadata as the goods rather than the actual words
within the content. In this way, the content itself remains
discoverable on the network while the underlying value is protected
by the content owner.
Inventors: |
Huck; Mark M.; (US) |
Correspondence
Address: |
MARK M. HUCK
912 2ND AVE. W.
SEATTLE
WA
98119
US
|
Family ID: |
39370394 |
Appl. No.: |
11/558906 |
Filed: |
November 11, 2006 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 ;
707/999.003; 707/999.004; 707/E17.008; 707/E17.009;
707/E17.143 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06F 16/907 20190101;
G06F 16/93 20190101 |
Class at
Publication: |
707/3 ; 707/4;
707/E17.008; 707/E17.143 |
International
Class: |
G06F 17/30 20060101
G06F017/30; G06F 7/00 20060101 G06F007/00 |
Claims
1. A method for offering to an operator an owner's content and its
metadata in a computer network comprising a. providing a memory
which is able to store incoming information received over a network
into said memory, b. providing a processor, c. providing such
network devices necessary to connect to a network of computers, d.
providing a display which is operatively connected to such memory,
e. providing a browser program able to transfer and receive
information and place such information into memory in a way
available to the processor, and showing information on said
display, f. providing a character input means which a human
operator can use to enter information into said browser whereby
operator who is content owner ("owner") can enter into an
information system one or more content items each having one or
more attributes whose values are specified by owner whereby one or
more of the content items each without one or more of the
attributes are published onto a network such that such content may
be discovered by search engine crawlers and other network
users.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein a content consumer ("consumer")
may view the owner's content and select it to include in consumer's
information system which accepts the same attributes as the owner's
information system.
3. The method of claim 2 said method will add the content and
metadata to the consumer's information system so that the metadata
is available to the operator's information system whereby an
operator can view operator's information system and see the offered
content.
4. The method of claim 3 wherein the owner is credited with the
financial or non-financial sale of the content.
5. The method of claim 3 wherein the content and metadata is
refreshed in the consumer's information system when the owner
changes the content or metadata within the owner's system
6. The method of claim 4 wherein the owner is credited for each
subsequent revision or use of the content by the consumer.
7. The method of claim 2 wherein the input mechanism is email
generated by the operator and sent to the system.
8. A method for providing search results to an operator in a
computer network comprising a. providing a memory which is able to
store incoming information received over a network into said
memory, b. providing a processor, c. providing such network devices
necessary to connect to a network of computers, d. providing a
display which is operatively connected to such memory, e. providing
a browser program able to transfer and receive information and
place such information into memory in a way available to the
processor, and showing information on said display, f. providing a
character input means which a human operator can use to enter
information into said browser whereby personal, team, group,
department and other human resources information is calculated into
the search relevance algorithm in order to derive content
relevance.
9. The method of claim 8 wherein search results that are selected
for use are also reported back to the company's human resources
department.
10. The method of claim 8 wherein ratings made within the
organization on content input by such person are added into a
reward subsystem accessible to other members of the
organization.
11. The method of claim 8 wherein searches made on content input by
such person are added into a reward subsystem accessible to other
members of the organization.
12. A method for providing search results to an operator in a
computer network comprising a. providing a memory which is able to
store incoming information received over a network into said
memory, b. providing a processor, c. providing such network devices
necessary to connect to a network of computers, d. providing a
display which is operatively connected to such memory, e. providing
a browser program able to transfer and receive information and
place such information into memory in a way available to the
processor, and showing information on said display, f. providing a
character input means which a human operator can use to enter
information into said browser whereby project or other
organizational information is calculated into the search relevance
algorithm in order to derive content relevance.
13. The method of claim 12 wherein search results that are selected
for use are also reported back to the company's human resources
department.
14. The method of claim 12 wherein ratings made within the
organization on content input by such person are added into a
reward subsystem accessible to other members of the
organization.
15. The method of claim 12 wherein searches made on content input
by such person are added into a reward subsystem accessible to
other members of the organization.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] 1. Field of the Invention
[0002] This invention relates to Class 706 (DATA PROCESSING:
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE), 45 (KNOWLEDGE PROCESSING SYSTEM), 59
(CREATION OR MODIFICATION), 60 (EXPERT SYSTEM OR SHELL).
[0003] 2. Description
[0004] A primary method for users (or "consumers") to find
information on a network such as the Internet is through searches
offered by various search sites. These search sites usually provide
a text input field into which the user types a query. The site then
returns search results containing links to pages or documents which
are relevant to the query. This method of information retrieval has
become very popular as the results become ever more relevant to the
user. Google is currently a company that is prominent in this
field. By using a mechanism called "page rank", whereby the links
to a site suggest its accuracy and validity, Google has made
network search an extremely accurate way for user's to find
information.
[0005] This search paradigm is particularly appropriate for atomic
pieces of information, such as weather or news where the user may
have enough contextual information to make informed decisions off
limited information. As the size of the relevant context increases,
however, the value of the individual fact decreases because the
fact may be appropriate for only limited situations. Research is a
type of information that generally requires extensive context in
order to understand a limited fact. This context might include
date, time, location, preconditions, history, risks, and so
forth.
[0006] Each search result links to a page that contains content
which the search engine has determined to be relevant to the user's
query. This content has been earlier created or compiled by a
content provider ("author" or "owner"). When the user visits the
owner's page, the owner has limited options for obtaining payment
for the value of the content. Generally, the advertising on the
page provides the compensation to the owner.
[0007] Recently, web logs (or "blogs") have also become a popular
mechanism for providing content on the Internet. These blogs
generally provide a mechanism (known as "feeds") whereby users may
subscribe to the blog, and view content via a client application
called a "reader". These feeds present the same problem to owners
as web pages; namely, it is difficult for the owner to obtain
payment for the content provided. In fact, because a subscriber
could easily code a web page to display the feed content on the
subscribers page or otherwise appropriate the content without
payment, feeds amplify the problem of the owner.
[0008] To frustrate this unauthorized use, feeds generally will
only contain a summary of the content, and not the full content.
This "teaser" summary generally is meant to provide enough content
so that the user will click through to the provider's blog. Again,
however, from the user's standpoint, the user is forced to go to
visit a single site rather than have an opportunity to aggregate
information in one area for use.
[0009] For content owners desiring compensation for their effort in
providing useful content, outside aggregation is currently not an
option for receiving payment unless the user somehow subscribes to
the aggregation service. More importantly, the owner's content may
still be plagiarized without any compensation to the owner. This is
a general problem for all creative work, but it perhaps most easily
accomplished with written work because of the ease with which
copying is possible with modern technologies. Thus, while content
owners are battling to reduce the visibility of full content,
consumers are seeking the fullest context possible. The goals would
appear antithetical, but are not using the present invention.
[0010] A final problem exists within companies where additional
information not generally available in a public space might provide
context for content. Attributes such as employee success, team
success, project success, and so forth provide valuable context to
artifacts an employee might create. As the success of a project or
employee within an organization increases, the likelihood that
written content generated by the project or employee has greater
organizational value also increases. Successful employees and
projects are likely to produce artifacts which other employees and
projects can emulate. Prior art does not show these success
attributes applied systematically to refine search queries.
Prior Art
[0011] U.S. Pat. No. 7,103,573 (to Peinado, et al.) and other
similar patents describe digital rights management art designed to
encode content to protect it from unauthorized reading. The present
invention, however, is not concerned with the words comprising the
content; rather, it is the metadata relationships within the
content and between content items that are protected and,
therefore, sellable.
[0012] No methods have been described, then, which provide at once
a mechanism for content owners to receive compensation for their
content while encouraging and increasing the availability of
information to the consumer. These goals appear contradictory.
However, by considering the metadata of the content to hold the
majority of value for content, the content can be published absent
the metadata and the user can compensate the owner--though
advertising, subscriptions, or other mechanism--when accessing this
content or its metadata.
[0013] Consider "Jimmy screamed and Julie covered her ears." A
simple combination of facts. The questions arise, are these two in
the same location? Is it at the same time? How close are they? Did
Julie do something to Jimmy? Is Julie covering her ears because of
cold weather or noise? Metadata, then, provides the meaning to the
statement. The content, however, is searchable. So, while the phase
is discoverable, it's meaning is not. If the consumer has prior
knowledge of Jimmy and Julie's situation, then metadata provided by
the owner has little value. However, if the consumer does not have
this contextual information, that information provides a wealth of
information to the consumer. In fact, the statement is quite
worthless without the context.
[0014] Or, consider "It is raining hard". Well, is this a location
where it rains seldom? Might there be flash floods? Is it Seattle,
so you can expect that the rain will continue for 3 more months? Is
the reporter reliable? Content in isolation get us just so far.
[0015] The present invention solves these problems while providing
analytical capabilities not available in the current search
paradigm or other prior art. The present invention is partially
premised on the idea that it is the relationships and metadata that
hold the primary value of content, particularly as the size and
complexity of the content increases.
[0016] By selling the metadata and its associated content owners
are unleashed to provide "full-text" feeds from their blogs. A
virtuous loop ensues. The full-text is available to the consumer
who then can pull this content into her information system and work
on it. The content can reside on the Internet and be searchable
there while the metadata that provides context and meaning remains
private.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0017] The present invention contains two major contributions to
networked knowledge management--corresponding to the claims later
in this document--which are not disclosed by prior art.
[0018] First, the present invention discloses methods which publish
content to a public location such as the Internet while keeping
metadata unavailable to the public until a consumer subscribes to
it. In doing so, the present invention allows for such content to
be publicly searchable while keeping much of its inherent value, as
encapsulated in its metadata, private. Thereby, the owner is able
to structure ownership arrangements, such as subscriptions, with
consumers and capture the value of this metadata.
[0019] The present invention further discloses the use of company
organizational data to add further relevance to search results. The
methods compute employee, team, group, and other relevance success
criteria into the search result algorithm. As well, the
Objects and Advantages
[0020] Accordingly, the objects and advantages of the present
invention are: [0021] (a) to provide a method and apparatus which
publishes searchable content to a public network while providing a
mechanism for the author or owner to obtain compensation of the
content's underlying structure. [0022] (b) to provide a method and
apparatus which provides a means for authored content and its use
on a network to be reported to human resources and other corporate
information systems in order to provide a feedback loop for
employee, project, and team success. [0023] (c) to provide a method
and apparatus which computes employee and project success in a
content search algorithm.
[0024] Further objects and advantages are to enable the searching
of content verbiage while maintaining strict ownership of logic and
other metadata. Still further objects and advantages will become
apparent from a consideration of the ensuing description and
drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0025] A typical embodiment of this invention is shown in drawing
FIGS. 1 and 2. The figures should not be considered to limit the
scope of the invention, and are shown to represent a typical
embodiment of the invention claims.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0026] A description of the present invention is shown in the
flow-charts of FIGS. 1 and 2.
Description of FIG. 1.
[0027] Original content (101) originate from email threads (102),
meeting notes (104), conversions (105), documents (106), and other
verbal sources within and outside of the corporation. Emails, for
example, can be parsed (103). For all sources, meta-data
annotations may be associated with parts of the text in order to
provide more context for the source. For all sources, the project
and author are captured as well when the memory is created.
[0028] A memory parsing algorithm (107) associates content with its
component words and phrases. The same algorithm is applied to
scenarios (110) and comments (124), which are also considered
content sources, though derivative from the original source
memories.
[0029] The data from the parsing is stored in a database (108).
[0030] A project (or workflow-creating) office (120) creates
projects (121), reports project success (126) into the database
(108), assigns members (142) to the projects (121), and sets up a
project portal (122). This project portal (122) enables all
searches (123), team comments (124), and results (125) to appear
within the context of the project and its individuals.
[0031] A project member can initiate a search query (123) to the
memories database (108) in order to find relevant memories to the
search. The search algorithm (108) considers the words, phrases,
links, and success metrics associated with memories, returning a
ranked result-set (125) to the portal (122).
[0032] Team members can capture and annotate (124) memories,
creating a new memory going into the memory algorithm (107). This
algorithm will be explained in greater detail below.
[0033] Alternately, the searches would take place in the context of
a workflow (170). As a member of the workflow reached a new
workflow stage, or picked up a new workflow stage assigned to her,
memories could be queried within this context. In this case, the
project portal (122) would be a portal for members of the
workflow.
[0034] Corporate human resources (140) supplies member information
(141) to the project office (120), as well as reports employee
success metrics (143), such as promotions, to the memory database
(108). Both the project success metrics (126) and the employee
success metrics (143) are used in the search algorithm.
[0035] A reward sub-system (130) captures usage information
associated with memories created by individuals and teams. The
individuals and teams are thereby rewarded for creating and usage
of their memories.
[0036] A scenario creation subsystem (110) submits scenario queries
to the memories database (108). The results are analyzed for
ability to create result-sets (similar to (125)) with high success
metrics. As these memories are created and stored, the source
memories are faded by using a fading factor in the algorithm.
Description of FIG. 2.
[0037] Operator who owns content ("owner") inputs content 202, 203,
and 204 into research 201 and includes metadata such as
categorization, start time, end time, geographical boundaries,
limits, risks, etc. The content with only a subset of the metadata
is published to the public network as content 212, 213, and 214.
When an operator who will consume the content ("consumer") views
public content in search results and then selects for inclusion in
consumer's information system 230, the research is added as item
231 by transfer via interface 220 from the owner's research 201 to
the consumer's information system 230.
CONCLUSIONS, RAMIFICATIONS, AND SCOPE
[0038] Accordingly, the reader will see that this invention
provides highly functional methods for compensating content owners
on the an internet or intranet. Although the description above
contains many specificities, these should not be construed as
limiting the scope of the invention but as merely providing
illustrations of some of the presently preferred embodiments of
this invention. Thus, the scope of the invention should be
determine by the appended claims and their legal equivalents,
rather than by the examples given.
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References